Last spring as the winter snow began to melt off our deck, my husband approached me with a proposition – “I think we should get some bird feeders for our deck.” My initial response was skeptical. My mind raced with a million doubts…

We don’t have any trees in our yard. Will we even get any birds?
We are so busy. We are hardly home. Why would we spend money feeding birds we hardly see?
Birds that get fed make a mess. I don’t want to be cleaning that off our deck.

But my husband has a passion for animals, so I swallowed my doubts and let him buy and set up the bird feeders…

And I am SO thankful he did! My husband and I have enjoyed looking out the window during our meals and watching cardinals, blue jays, robins, and so many other birds congregating on our deck. When we wake up in the morning, we listen to the coo of the morning doves as we get ready for our day. Our neighbors also have 2 little girls who enjoy playing in our yard and on our deck. They have become big fans of the birds and enjoy spreading the birdseed all over our deck so the birds come and snatch it up.

As our neighbor girls were spreading birdseed around our deck this spring, some of the seeds dropped off the edge our deck and into the rocks below. As spring wore into the early part of summer, we saw some weeds growing up through the rocks. Before long we realized with great joy that the birdseed that had fallen had taken root. They were not weeds, but rather SUNFLOWERS growing in our backyard! Now 3 months later our back deck is a social center for the birds and surrounded with a dozen sunflowers.

This whole experience has taught me a lesson about taking care of creation. I was skeptical to spend time, money, and energy on something as small as birdseed because I didn’t see the benefit to me. But in my husband’s willingness to care for creation, we have been blessed with birds and flowers, and have been able to bring so much joy to our neighbor girls. (We also cut a few sunflowers to give to our neighbor girls as a thank-you-for-accidentally-planting-our-flowers.) If my husband had listened to me and my “how can it benefit me?” mindset, we would have missed out on so many blessings.

Genesis 1:26 reads, “Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” God created humans for many reasons, one of which to care for and rule over creation. The lesson I learned was when you take time to care for creation as God intended, God will reward you with blessings – maybe even sunflowers & birds!

So, your Monday mission is “buy the birdseed”. Care for creation in whatever capacity God is calling you to.

cover image courtesy of Marina Reich on Unsplash

photo in article courtesy of Zach Van Den Top